How to spend $32,000 on a fixie by UBS and their Coren

posted by Nick Burklow - September 13, 2012 - 3pm EST

At bike rumor we come across a lot of very spendy bikes. We also come across the “We did it just because we could,” products. Well, the Coren bike by UBC (a German company that makes Formula 1 parts) has managed to combine both of those categories into a $32,000 carbon fixie that uses the gates carbon belt drive system. Oh, and you can get a single speed version if you prefer brakes.

If one were to pay the insane asking price for the bike, you would get a frame made in a clean room, formed in aluminum molds, and made out of T1000 carbon fiber. Construction time hits upwards of 40 man hours, and it has been designed by Christian Zanzotti.

For the cost, and given the company’s background in F1, I would have assumed this to be in the super light category. However, the bike comes in at 17 pounds. That said, the designer states that the “Super slim top and down tubes lend the Coren a unique visual lightness.” So there is always that going for it.

As far as the frame design is concerned, UBC calls it “avant-garde.” Personally, I rather like the look of the bike, but looks aren’t everything. There is no mention of how the bike rides and performs, and by the looks of all that flat carbon shaping, I would imagine its very compliant, but I could be wrong. A lot can be done with the right type of layup and resin when working with Carbon.

Now for the rumor part. After all, it is our namesake. The word is we will get to see one of these precision engineered German made Coren frames up close and personal come Feburary at NAHBS in Denver, CO. So, stay tuned

Comments

ko1966 - 09/13/12 - 3:39pm

I need two!

Gillis - 09/13/12 - 3:41pm

It generally looks cool and I like the details. It would be a nice single speed around-town bike. The only caveat is that top tube. Make it flat, or sloped, just remove that hump. It’s the only thing, visually, that’s ruining it for me.

Jake - 09/13/12 - 3:44pm

Meh…pocket change.

Just not my pocket.

Collin - 09/13/12 - 3:51pm

“unique visual lightness” IE skinny side profile, fat frontal profile. I think they missed a negative somewhere when they were doing their aero calculations.

You would think a company like UBC would bring more technology and performance. Instead we get a $32,000 pile of fluff. Imagine the “real” bike gear you could buy with that money!

Mark W. - 09/13/12 - 5:04pm

when are they going to do a carbon mixie like this?

Sam - 09/13/12 - 5:05pm

For $32,000 you could buy a Specialized S-Works Venge Di2 ($12000), a Trek Madone 7.9 ($11550), a Cervelo R5 Dura Ace ($7000), and still have enough money left over for brand-new shoes, helmet, and kit, plus enough to take all your friends out for post-ride pizza. Anybody who purchases one of these is crazy.

Quickie - 09/13/12 - 5:06pm

How come the wheel sits further forward in one slider than on the other side? I’m no engineer but it seems like something is off there.

Brandon - 09/13/12 - 5:13pm

I honestly don’t hate it as much as you guys do. And for $320 I think I may buy one….wait….what? It’s $32,000?!

Henry - 09/13/12 - 5:19pm

Brandon, LOL!

David - 09/13/12 - 6:00pm

@ Quickie Your right! Now which F1 team did you say UBC work for obviously not one of the top teams.

Jonny - 09/13/12 - 6:01pm

Okay….how can a bike be so damn expensive???

Pete - 09/13/12 - 6:35pm

marketed to an idiot savant…without the savant

Pete - 09/13/12 - 6:38pm

oh, and the asymmetric dropouts? that’s for when you’re on the velodrome, you can turn without turning. ingenious!

Just Looking - 09/13/12 - 7:34pm

Hahahah, you silly geese. What on earth makes you think this project should be practical, functional, or realistic in any way?! It’s just awesome, it’s someone else’s money, and the cut to the rear seat stay that you are all claiming to be an ugly hump is visual gourmet!

Heh, analyzing it like it’s supposed to be a consumer bike or have some magical wonder aero drag force reduction for all the races it will be in…

Matt - 09/13/12 - 8:26pm

It’s the Dyson vacuum of the bike world.

greg - 09/13/12 - 9:52pm

Quickie, David,
not so observant, are you? they are two different bikes. top dropout pic has a disc brake, silver bolts. bottom pic has no brake, tune hub, radial lacing on the left, black bolts. in the bottom photo, looking at the distance between the front of the dropout and the front of the slider on each side leads me to believe they are positioned more or less equally.
not a fan of a bike being made of only T1000 carbon, however. carbon with different stiffness and different toughness properties belong on certain parts of the bike.

Mark - 09/13/12 - 10:06pm

If you roll those tubes on edge, put some tri bars on it and claim a .002% aero advantage over best in class with some heavy marketing-science propaganda you’d have a queue of dentists and chiropractors with blank cheques expecting to move up a notch in their age group at the next triathlon.

Werdna - 09/13/12 - 11:11pm

“Construction time hits upwards of 40 man hours”
1 hour building the bike and 39 hours filming and post production.

These people believe they have invented the bicycle??. One thing is certain, they have no idea what’s on the market.

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